The 2003 season was the 73rd completed season of Finnish Football League Championship, known as the Veikkausliiga. At the same time it was the 14th season of the Veikkausliiga.
Overview The Veikkausliiga is administered by the Finnish Football Association and the competition's 2003 season was contested by 14 teams. HJK Helsinki won the championship and qualified for the 2004–05 UEFA Champions League qualification round, while the second and sixth placed teams qualified for the first qualification round of the 2004–05 UEFA Cup. The third and fourth placed teams qualified for the UEFA Intertoto Cup 2004, while FC KooTeePee and KuPS Kuopio were relegated to the Ykkönen.
Participating clubs In 2003 there were 14 participants in the Veikkausliiga:
Allianssi Vantaa FC Jazz Pori FC Hämeenlinna FC KooTeePee - Promoted from Ykkönen FC Lahti Haka Valkeakoski HJK Helsinki Inter Turku Jaro Pietarsaari FC Jokerit - Promoted from Ykkönen KuPS Kuopio MyPa 47 Anjalankoski Tampere United TPS Turku - Promoted from Ykkönen
League standings
Promotion/relegation playoff
RoPS Rovaniemi - KooTeePee Kotka 4-1 KooTeePee Kotka - RoPS Rovaniemi 3-2
RoPS Rovaniemi promoted, KooTeePee Kotka relegated.
Results
Leading scorers Pos. Player Nat. Club Goals 1. Saku Puhakainen MyPa 14 2. Juho Mäkelä HJK 13 - Gábor Szilágyi FC KooTeePee 13 4. Luciano Álvarez FC Inter 12 - Arístides Pertot FC Inter 12 6. Mika Kottila HJK 11 - Valeri Popovitch FC Haka 11 8. Ryan Botha MyPa 10 - Jari Niemi Tampere Utd 10 - Sami Ristilä FC Haka 10
Attendances
No. Club Average Highest 1 HJK 3,646 7,716 2 TPS 3,203 5,624 3 Tampere 3,062 5,040 4 Inter Turku 2,520 6,211 5 Lahti 2,403 6,450 6 KooTeePee 2,348 3,378 7 KuPS 2,242 3,015 8 Jokerit 2,231 3,789 9 Haka 2,067 3,121 10 MyPa 1,995 3,111 11 Jazz 1,898 3,248 12 Hämeenlinna 1,892 3,105 13 Jaro 1,709 2,627 14 Allianssi 1,701 2,402Source:
Footnotes
References Finland - List of final tables (RSSSF)